Ariz. activists build map to show federal agents at polls
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Arizona immigration advocates are building an interactive map to alert people if federal agents are spotted near polling places this fall.
Why it matters: It's illegal for federal law enforcement officers to interfere with the right to vote, but for months Republicans in D.C. and in Arizona's state house have floated the idea of ICE agents or National Guard troops being deployed to voting precincts.
- When asked in May whether he was considering sending ICE or Guard troops to polling places, President Trump said he'd "do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections."
- That raised concerns across the country about potential voter intimidation — particularly in places such as Arizona that have large immigrant populations.
The big picture: The online heat map of ICE activity that's being developed in Arizona will show live updates of polling places where ICE agents are spotted, along with past enforcement activity in Maricopa and Pima counties, the state's two most populous counties.
- There's been a noticeable increase in ICE activity in these counties recently, said Karime Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the Arizona Center for Empowerment (ACE), a social justice-oriented nonprofit that works with immigrants that is behind the heat map.
- "Just the simple threat of ICE presence is enough to keep somebody from voting," Rodriguez said. "It's all a coordinated effort to keep people away from voting and to make voting more confusing and less accessible."
- She added the threat could be particularly acute for people coming from mixed-status households, where someone they live with isn't voting but isn't a citizen.
Catch up quick: Arizona's Republican-led state Senate considered a bill that would have required ICE agents at the polls this November, but it didn't pass. State Sen. Jake Hoffman (R) argued such a requirement would make elections safer, echoing the Trump administration.
- "When voters see the rules applied fairly and consistently, confidence in the outcome follows," Hoffman said in a press release about the bill.
- U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said during his confirmation hearing that he didn't understand the concern about ICE agents being present at polls because "'if you're not a citizen you shouldn't be voting anyways, so technically there shouldn't be illegals at the polling spot."
- Even though the Arizona bill failed, it put immigration advocates on high alert.
Zoom out: Laws governing how close any law enforcement officers — including local police — can be to polling places were imposed to avoid the potential that some voters may feel intimidate or think their right to vote is being suppressed.
- Organizers behind Arizona's heat map app argue that it's not just undocumented immigrants who are at risk of being arrested if federal agents are at or nearby the polls. There have been several instances of Homeland Security's "roving patrols" arresting U.S. citizens and people outside the scope of targeted operations.
- Critics of these operations argue that these erroneous encounters often stem from racial profiling that could impact any person of color or someone speaking a foreign language.
- "They've arrested American citizens. They've gone after protesters on the streets. There was a fear factor when they were deployed, an intimidating factor as well, and so them being out in the community terrorizing folks will definitely have an impact on voter turnout," said Cesar Fierro, of Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), an affiliated group with ACE.
The other side: "ICE is not planning operations targeting polling locations. ICE conducts intelligence-driven targeted enforcement, and if an active public safety threat endangered a polling location, they may be arrested as a result of that targeted enforcement action," a DHS official said in an emailed statement.
- The Arizona Secretary of State's office said in a statement that "the best way to address this potential issue is to do what election officials always do — prepare and plan for contingencies through trainings and building relationships between our county election officials and local law enforcement."
Between the lines: Despite the continued pursuits from the Trump administration to find and prosecute voter fraud, the numbers of ineligible people voting remains minute. Instances of noncitizens voting illegally are especially rare.
- The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, tracks instances of illegal non-citizen voting and has not identified any such cases in Arizona.
